The
Phantom (in the stories, no one ever called him the Phantom Detective)
was wealthy playboy Richard Curtis Van Loan. Having experienced action
and adventure in the big war (WW I) he became bored. Frank Havens, the
publisher of the New York Clarion challenged his young friend to solve
a case the police couldn't.

He
did, of course. Having gotten the bug, Richard learned everything he
could
about crime detection, makeup and disguise, and the psychology of
criminals.
Eventually he started solving crimes the police couldn't and was
eventually
called upon by the police to help them. Often, the police would
approach
Havens about contacting The Phantom. Eventually Havens put a crimson
colored
beacon on the roof of the paper and turned it on whenever The Phantom
was
needed (holy Bat Signal!!).

And so it
went
for 170 issues, the third longest run for a hero pulp character, after
the Shadow (325) and Doc Savage (181).

The Phantom
was
also the second such pulp character to appear, coming in February 1933,
a month before Doc Savage.

And the
Phantom
Detective was the longest running pulp hero character in terms of time,
starting in February 1933 and ending in the Fall 1953 issue: over 20
years!

I'm also a
collector
of pulps, the Phantom Detective in particular. I have
all 170 issues, but I'm looking to upgrade parts of the set so, if you
have any issues of the Phantom Detective you'd like
to sell or trade, contact me at: